Long time WXPN favorite RHETT MILLER is back with his second solo album, The Believer and - like his first solo album The Instigator - it's a tasty piece of pop music. Miller is actually the thinking-man's (and woman's) pop songwriter. This new album takes on some very challenging subjects (suicide, for one) without being heavy-handed, and it's always presented in a smart and catchy manner.

Bridging all kinds of musical syles effortlessly with her highly emotive, smoky voice, NEKO CASE has created a masterpiece with Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. This Virginian-born, Tacoma-raised alt-diva got her career started in a big way when she moved to Vancouver and joined THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS (with whom she still records and tours). Case brings an inherent understanding of country music an all of its' possible range of feelings to the table on this new disc, but it's in no way a country album (or even an alt-country album, for that matter...). Case is country like DUSTY SPRINGFIELD or TOWNES VAN ZANT was... she's actually more of a country-noir artist than anything else. It's an emotive starting point, but the music in no way stops or ends there.

From the archives of the nationally-acclaimed WORLD CAFE® radio show, comes this series of limited edition CDs. This collection of rare, live performances from the most significant musical artists has created over the past 15 years and today is an absolute must-have for music fans nationwide.

On her latest release The Comfort of Strangers, Beth Orton has managed to present listeners with the most intimate, soulful album of her career. Always able to sonically channel enigmatic '70's songwriters like NICK DRAKE and SANDY DENNY, this new album harkens the ghosts of those artists like never before. Deftly produced by JIM O'ROURKE (who's lately been a part of SONIC YOUTH), Orton composed all thirteen of these new tracks, including a songwriting collaboration with O'Rourke and M. WARD on the title cut.

The former GUIDED BY VOICES frontman didn't wait long after disbanding his long-standing group to unleash his first post-GBV solo album. Pollard is an extremely complex and extremely prolific songwriter who has always managed to delight his fans with a heady combination of intelligent wordplay and pop hooks.

It's easy to get caught up in the splendid idea that surrounds the packaging of this new album... there are two discs in the set: one (the actual finished album) is labeled "Mine", and the other "Yours". The "Yours" disc is a DVD-ROM that allows you to re-mix the entire album using software available online. Pretty cool, and user friendly, too.

In the space of two years (2003-2005), ROSANNE CASH lost her mother, stepmother (JUNE CARTER CASH), and - of course - her father JOHNNY CASH. The result for her musically is the most intense and personal of all of her many releases over a 25-year-plus career.

One of the most promising groups in the Philly Local scene, SLO-MO is led by steel guitarist MIKE BRENNER, a veteran of many bands (including MARAH). Out front is MIC WRECKA, a bona fide hip-hop poet. The groove-oriented tunes are punctuated with sublime female vocals and an absolutely solid rhythm section.

Wrapping up a dizzying year of activity, Adams new album "29" was released the last week of 2005. It was his third (!) official release of the year, hot on the heels of Jacksonville City Nights and the double CD Cold Roses.

Our New Orleans is a benefit album by the New Orleans greats.The net procedes for this album will go to Habitat for Humanity to aid those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Names like Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and many others newly recorded each of these songs for this album. On the album website, you can stream a video of the recording sessions as well as interviews by many of the musicians. Many of these amazing musicians had homes, studios, family and friends in New Orleans. The intense emotion is clearly visible in their performances.

Chamber pop quintet Matt Pond PA is led by singer/songwriter Matt Pond, who formed the group upon relocating from New England to Philadelphia in the late Nineties. In 2003, Pond left Philadelphia for Brooklyn, and eventually met the rest of the band that would ultimately become the strongest lineup of Matt Pond PA since its inception.

This is a rare band that really sounds like a band - a complete
complimentary unit. They have that special combination of natural,
grooove-oriented music combined with the fact that, lyrically, they
really have something to say.

Since their 1998 debut "Let's Cut The Crap And Hook Up Later On Tonight", the Philly-based band Marah have won fans across the world with their eclectic, rootsy rock & roll. Fronted by the Bielanko Brothers - singer/songwriter/guitarist/banjoist Dave and guitarist/vocalist/harmonica player Serge, they also count as their fans author Nick Hornby, Bruce Springsteen (who played guitar and sang on their 2002 release Float Away With the Friday Night Gods) and Steve Earle (who signed the band to his label and released the band's 2000 release Kids In Philly).

British pianist/vocalist and songwriting Jamie Cullum mixes jazz with melodic pop and rock into a crossover style that brings to mind artists such as Harry Connick, Jr and Norah Jones. Cullum will just as often cover a swinging jazz standard as a modern rock song, and his original compositions move from earnest ballads to songs of sardonic wit. As a showman he's equal parts Ben Folds and Billy Joel and on his 2004 release Twentysomething. he won XPN listeners over with songs like his covers of Radiohead's "High And Dry," The Neptunes' "Frontin'," "The Wind Cries Mary" by Jimi Hendrix along with standards like "Singing In The Rain," and "I Could Have Danced All Night."

Recorded in their hometown of Chicago, Illinois on May 4 through the 7th of this year at the Vic Theatre, Wilco's new double album is their first official live album and culls together the best performances of those four night. If you are already a fan of Jeff Tweedy's band and songwriting, this is a must have for your collection. What is truly amazing about this album is how the warm, intimate feel of the original studio recordings

Trey Anastasio moves in a whole new direction on Shine, his first album for Columbia Records. The former Phish guitarist, singer and songwriter continues to evolve and this time around he's exchanged the grooves and full band arrangements that made his 2002 solo debut so exciting for a leaner more pop and rock oriented sound. Definitely gone are the long, noodly jams that brought Phish to jamband acclaim.

Soulive is a funky organ trio who cover a lot of musical ground including jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop. Their grooves are wide and thick, the beats guaranteed to bump your rump all through the night. Formed in the late Nineties, the band include drummer Alan Evans and his brother Neil on keyboards and guitarist Eric Krasno. Since their debut album, they've brought jazz to the dance floor and have become an exciting live band who were one of the highlights of this year's XPN All About The Music Festival. And they are known throughout jam band circles as one of the premier groups drawing on the jams of jazz and rhythms of soul.

XPN Artist To Watch - October 2005
The Magic Numbers
Drawing inspiration from many sources, the band craft a sound which, like The Flaming Lips or Beck, is coming from everywhere but is uniquely theirs. more....

The rave reviews are coming in for My Morning Jacket new album, Z. David Fricke in Rolling Stone wrote: "America is a lot closer to getting its own Radiohead and it isn't Wilco. Kentucky's My Morning Jacket take Dixie rock to the astral plane." And a five star review in the October edition of the British magazine Mojo calls the band's fourth album a religious experience and hailed it as "an instant classic."

Susan Tedeschi flaunts her vocal skills in her long awaited fourth album, Hope and Desire. Her voice simply soars in this twelve track collection of lesser known blues numbers by names like Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Taking a break from her own songwriting and her guitar, Tedeschi focuses on vocal interpretation and puts her own personal mark on each of these songs.

Neil Young's Prairie Wind completes a trilogy of acoustic-based albums he began with the landmark Harvest in 1972 and continued with Harvest Moon in 1992. On the new album, Young is joined by keyboardist Spooner Oldham, pedal-steel guitarist Ben Keith, drummer Chad Cromwell, percussionist Karl Himmel, bassist Rick Rosas, vocalist Emmylou Harris, Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns and the Fisk University Jubilee Singers.

For starters, our infatuation began with David long before his 1999 breakthrough record, White Ladder. From his 1993 debut, A Century Ends, we marveled at songs like the title song, “Shine,” “Wisdom,” and the brilliant “Let The Truth Sting.”

Two years after the release of the remarkable, critically acclaimed Let
Go, Nada Surf return with another infectious collection of super-melodic
guitar driven pop songs. There isn't a better album of smart guitar pop
you'll hear this year than Nada Surf's The Weight Is A Gift.

If you're already a fan of blues singer Shemekia Copeland you'll be
happy to know she's made the best album of her career. The Soul Truth is
the third album from the daughter of the late great bluesman Johnny
Copeland, and is Ms. Copeland's funkiest, grittiest, blues-iest rockin'
record yet.